Ruby Rose and The Shining Beacon

Ruby hadn't been paying attention. This was a fairly common occurrence for her, to be honest…off the battlefield she was a first class space cadet, it was really a wonder that she didn't wander into trouble more often. Nonetheless, here she was, standing in the shadow of a tall, angry looking man in sunglasses who wanted her to take off her headphones. She complied, admittedly curious about his reason for bothering her. "Yes?"

"I said put your hands in the air, now!"

Ruby's eyebrows knit together at the demand, her lips turned down slightly as she squinted up at him in confusion. "Are you…robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Ohhhh…" So that's what the sword was for. Ruby smirked ever so subtly before kicking the man in the stomach and watching him fly down the aisle, making a small silent whistle as he flew. Most of the people she'd fought wouldn't have moved at all from that kick. And it was then that the next man entered the aisle, and as he pointed the gun at her, she finally realized what had been happening while she'd been cheerfully browsing the weapons magazines. The store was being robbed. Ruby growled and sped forward into the man, barreling into him and hurtling through the shop's window. The man was out cold by the time they hit the pavement outside, and Ruby smiled before taking Crescent Rose out of its holster and unsheathing it to its full size.

She turned back to the shop window to face the now dumbfounded store robbers, glaring at the white haired woman that seemed to be their leader as she spun her scythe around her body and pointed her weapon towards them. Ruby absently paused her music while the white haired woman examined her, a frown marring her stern features as she crossed her arms over her petticoat.

"What a little pest," the woman snapped. She looked around at her men and let out a soft growl. "What in the world are you imbeciles waiting for?! Kill her!"

oooOOOooo

Weiss Schnee had become something of an urban legend on the streets of Vale. The prodigal daughter of a wealthy CEO turned rogue, a criminal who abandoned the lap of luxury in Atlas and began operations in Vale. No one had actually seen her since she disappeared from a charity ball in Atlas, but whispers and signatures at crime scenes in Vale provided her location, and the public disownment her father provided a few weeks after the raids started kept the kingdoms from going to war. It was the biggest scandal to occur in the past five years, yet in the past three, no one had reported the Ice Queen's presence at any crime.

That was, no one had before last night. Ruby honestly didn't care all that much, but she really wanted to stop hearing the news channels go crazy over it. Her first day at Beacon was today and all she could find on the com channels during breakfast was report after report about Weiss Schnee robbing a dust shop and "attacking a helpless young girl". Ruby pouted when another reporter referred to her as "cute" and "innocent", but she continued chomping away at her cereal nonetheless.

Ruby hadn't been hurt…if anything, she had been more concerned about the thugs Schnee had hired. Once they had been taken down by Ruby, Weiss had wasted no time kicking and beating them while they were down, her words sharp and scathing as she blamed them for Ruby's higher skill level. Ruby pitied them…they had to work for someone who was so clearly unstable.

"Why are you still in your pajamas? You're gonna be late for your first day back at Signal!"

Ruby snapped back to reality as Yang jogged into the room, fully dressed and brimming with excitement about her first day at Beacon. Ruby gulped as her eyes followed her sister nervously, her gaze returning to the doorframe just in time to watch her dad silently approach the room. Ruby's eyes flitted to Yang briefly before returning to Taiyang, and he snorted slightly at her nervousness before winking at her and stepping into the kitchen.

"Come on Yang, let her eat breakfast in peace," he said as he entered the room, making Ruby sigh softly with relief. She and her dad had decided to surprise Yang with the news that Ruby was moved up to Beacon on the airship, but…Ruby was awful at keeping secrets, and even worse at lying. Luckily, Yang had been excited enough last night that she hadn't really noticed, and dad kept helping even more. "She'll get dressed after she's done. Right, Kiddo?"

"Yup," Ruby replied as she took another bite of her cereal.

"Remember to bring your scythe with you, I'm taking you to school after we drop off your sister."

"Right."

Taiyang smiled before turning back to the blonde girl invading his fridge. "And Yang."

"Yeah dad?"

"Did you remember to pack everything?"

"Yup!"

"Got your weapons?"

Yang straightened up in front of the fridge and flexed her arms in an effort to show off her gauntlets. "Yup!"

"Go easy on breakfast?"

"No way! If this is my last morning eating a homemade meal than I'll eat as much as I want!"

"It was worth a try…"

Ruby finished off the last of her cereal as they talked and sped from the table to the counter, dumping her bowl gracelessly in the sink before sprinting into the hall and to her room. She giggled a bit as she heard Yang yelling at her to slow down before shuffling over to her closet and grabbing her usual outfit. After Ruby slipped it on as quickly as she could, she strapped her holster back over her hips and clipped Crescent Rose onto the back. Ruby shoved her feet into her boots unceremoniously and sprinted back through the kitchen, nearly knocking over her poor father in her haste.

"I call shotgun!" Ruby said quickly as she rushed through the room to the car.

"Ruby, we aren't leaving for another half hour!" Yang called from the kitchen, but by then, Ruby was already snuggled up contently in the passenger's seat of the car and playing a game on her scroll to pass the time.

oooOOOooo

To say that Ruby's anxiety about her first day at Beacon had increased would be an understatement. The pressure playing merry hell on her nerves had risen tenfold on the airship over to Beacon, and Yang, in all her brimming excitement, had done very little to quell it besides being around. It helped to have someone she knew. That was, it did until Yang ditched her a split second ago. She had never felt so betrayed by her older sister before. Here they were, ways away from home and Ruby's head was damn near spinning in the wake of Yang's hasty departure.

Ruby could only stammer pointlessly in her confusion. "W-Wait, where are you going?! Aren't we supposed to go to our dorms?! Where are our dorms?! Do we have dorms?!" But by the time she finished stammering out her questions, Yang was gone, and she all but lost her balance and fell right into…a person.

"My my…someone's coordinated."

"Oh! U-Uh…s-sorry, I didn't mean to…" Ruby swerved on her heels to see an orange haired boy smirking down at her, his lone green eye observing her casually. Her eyes flitted across him for a few seconds, noting the wine colored waistcoat with a white dress shirt beneath with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and the grey ascot tied loosely around his neck. By the state of his dress, he looked sort of like a flamboyant businessman, but his face suggested that he was probably a little younger than his fashion choices made him out to be.

It occurred to her for a moment that he was probably an incoming student like her, before her lopsided spin on her heels finally caught up to her and she started falling backwards. Ruby wailed a little on her descent until two large hands grabbed her just below the shoulders and helped her right herself. The young man in front of her chuckled as he let go of her and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Careful there, Red. I might not be the softest landing spot, but I'm pretty sure that the ground is worse."

"S-Sorry, I'm just a little…clumsy, I guess?" Ruby shifted her balance between her feet anxiously.

The boy snorted somewhat in response. "I kinda gathered that," he replied before holding a gloved hand out to her. "The name's Roman Torchwick, by the way. Pleased to cushion your fall."

"Oh uh…hi! I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! Nice to meet you!" Ruby chirped as she reached out to shake his hand. "Are you, uh…um…?"

"New here too?" Roman offered.

"Yes! That…that is totally what I meant to ask!"

"Well, as a student, yes, I suppose I am new here…"

"Oh! So that's…! Wait what do you mean by that?"

He chuckled once more. "Now that…" Roman paused to press a finger to his lips, "is a secret."

Ruby blinked, and Roman smiled a little wider before walking around her towards the school.

"Well it was nice to bump into you, Little Red…"

"Wa—Wait!" Ruby called out as she swerved on her heels again. "Do you…uh…uhm…you wouldn't happen to know where new students are supposed to go first…do you?"

"I see that someone wasn't paying attention on the ride over," Roman spoke softly as he turned back to her.

"There were…interesting circumstances to that…"

Roman snorted. "Well, I do happen to know where we're supposed to go. Is it safe to assume that…you both need a guide?" Roman leaned to look past Ruby, and she followed his gaze back to a sheepish looking blonde boy that nearly looked more lost than she did.

Ruby studied the casually dressed blonde for a few seconds before snorting a little. "Aren't you the guy that puked on the ship?"

The boy blushed scarlet. "I-I get motion sickness, okay?"

"He puked on the ship?" Roman repeated behind Ruby and she turned to him briefly.

"Yeah…didn't you see it?"

"I must have been preoccupied at the time," Roman sighed, "so do you have a name, Vomit Boy?"

"Hey!" The blonde scowled slightly at Roman. "It's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

"Ahuh. Well then, Jaune, Ruby, I suppose I will lead you to the assembly hall…"

"Really?" Ruby lit up a little before trotting forward to walk next to Roman. "That's a tremendous help!"

"Oh, thanks!" Jaune said as he followed suit and sauntered up to join them, "Though I'd probably be okay on my own…I mean, there's probably a directory or something…like maybe a…recognizable landmark?"

Ruby snorted at that, and Roman turned slowly to Jaune. "You're welcome to look for orientation on your own."

Jaune withered at that. "…I'd appreciate the help."

oooOOOooo

So…welcome to RRBY, a roleswap AU between Roman and Weiss where Roman becomes a huntsman in training and Weiss becomes a dust thief. Their personalities and backgrounds are otherwise similar to canon if not the same. Kay? Kay.

p.s.- please don't murder me I'm working on my other stories too.